Alleged Kiwi botnet mastermind in court

An 18-year-old suspected of masterminding a botnet-fueled international cybercrime network has appeared in a New Zealand court. Owen Thorn Walker, of Whitianga in New Zealand's North Island, was charged with a variety of computer hacking offences including two counts of accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, two counts …

[Scott Harman]

Botmaster in Whitianga?

Crikey - I was there a week ago - I had enough trouble getting a cellphone signal let alone access to the net!

[Jez Caudle]

He infected a computer?

Surely every fact quoted should have had a question mark appended to it to make it into a question for your NZ readers?

They make everything into a question over there. 2 + 2 = 4?

Etc?

[triky]

loving it...

Operation Bot Roast :) nuff said !

[Will Hall]

hacking software

So, he was caught in "possessing hacking software" huh? What's that exactly - emacs? Vi? Kedit???

Crickey, I didn't realise that posession of editing tools was a criminal offense.

Oh, perhaps "cracking" was meant instead...?

[Anthony Sanford]

Hacking Software

Well there is something similar in the UK.

Sensibly, TBTB in the UK have not tried to prosecute anyone for it yet since almost all so called 'hacking' tools also have legitimate purposes, like port scanners.

[Keith T]

He'll be out in under a year

I'll wager he'll be out in under a year, IF he is convicted.

[Tris Orendorff]

FBI Pun?

"...as part of a larger FBI-led operation aimed at cracking down on the trade in compromised PCs, codenamed Operation Bot Roast."

This is the first time I have seen the FBI use a pun for an op. name. They have no sense of humour.

[heystoopid]

How can that be ?

How can that be , with all those extra sheep in the country and the smartest ones departing daily joining the relatives in residence in the sun burnt country to the west for a better life away from the permanent unemployment in the twin islands of the long white overhead cloud plus double the pay and half the work load ?

[Alan Donaly]

accessing a computer for dishonest purposes

yeesh! I am glad that isn't against the law here. All those matchmaking sites would be in deep trouble.

[David]

Hey quit with the sheep jokes!

I am from New Zealand and I get sick of all those sheep jokes.

Will you quit it. It makes me horny.

[David]

Agreed, except:

<quote>How can that be , with all those extra sheep in the country and the smartest ones departing daily joining the relatives in residence in the sun burnt country to the west for a better life away from the permanent unemployment in the twin islands of the long white overhead cloud plus double the pay and half the work load ?</quote>

Agreed, except:

New Zealand has the lowest unemployment in the developed world. Partly because of the reasons you explained above.

[Steve Roper]

Never mind 10 bloody years...

...if he's convicted, string the bastard up!

Ch-klick... HOCK! OOOORRRRRAAAAYYYYY!

[Jon Tocker]

Thing that surprises me about the story...

is how the FBI managed to find New Zealand in the first place - in addition to the difficulty the FBI traditionally has finding its own arse with both hands, citizens of the USA are renowned for thinking we're "up by Greenland or something".

The kid probably though he was safe from detection because "no one's heard of New Zealand, let alone Whitianga".

Whitianga, Cybercrime Centre of New Zealand! Shit, I didn't even know they had a functioning telephone exchange up that way. Last I heard, their data infrastructure relied on an acoustic link - made from two tin cans and a length of string. Telecon^Hm recently announced they plan to install an optical network up that way but they haven't decided on whether it will be semaphore or smoke signals.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think this is time for zome Ozlander vernacular...

Bloody Kiwi!

Ah well, back to what passes for normality for me. And for those not from the Antipodes, please note that there are far more sheep in Oz (~120,000,000) than in the land of the long white cloud (~45,000,000). Most people are surprised by this, and the average Kiwi's reaction to this observation is generally the classic Kiwi euphemism, "Well, I'll be be buggered."

[detro]

bloody hell

i stumbled upon AKILL quite a few years ago. Well actually he stumbled into me, my honeypot to be exact which was mimicking a ircd hosting a botnet. He questioned why he couldnt steal my botnet and then said i mustve done a good job encrypting them and commanding em privately. We talked for quite a bit and he told me of living in new zealand. I remember he had many .edu machines and entire networks under his control, logging on thru every japanese and chinese university, to flex his e-peen to me i supposed. then he just disappeared. Imho botnet's are to low to middle class white kids what the drug dealing game is to many inner city kids. A fast illegal way to make money using the skills you learned growing up.

[Spoonguard]

Thames Magistrate's Court?

Isn't the Thames Magistrate's Court in London, not Northern New Zealand?

Is Northern New Zealand an odd euphemism what would otherwise be South Eastern England?

Are you sure you weren't thinking of The Thames District Court, in the North Island?